Eye on the Trail: Hunt and Wilmshurst

BrianW

Brian Wilsmhurst

Playing catch up here in Nome.  There were so many teams that completed Iditarod yesterday, I couldn’t get to the arch to hear stories and take pictures AND write something up about each musher and their journey.  It’s sort of a twilight time on Sunday morning, I’ve already been up to the volunteer center for a light breakfast now I can get a few more stories up.  Nome is sure quiet.  the only other people I ran into were the cook, a pilot and another long standing volunteer.  Now, back to yesterday…

Brian Wilmshurst completed his rookie Iditarod run as he came to the arch wearing shorts.  That’s a Wilmshurst trade mark.  He was wearing them at Vet Check, at the Musher Banquet and at the Ceremonial Start.  Somebody at the arch asked if he’d be wearing shorts for the finisher’s banquet.  Brian’s response was, “Yup, that’s all I packed.”

Brian and team did a distance double this year, completing both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year.  Mushers, Allen Moore, Hugh Neff, Jason Campeau, Lance Mackey and Rob Cooke join him in the 2015 Distance Double Club.   Wilmshurst completed the Quest in 11 days15 hours and 36 minutes.  He completed his rookie Iditarod in 12 days 5 hours and 18 minutes.  The two races are very different in terrain, number of checkpoints and handler support.  With regard to sheer breath taking beauty, it’s probably a tie.

Tim Hunt came down Front Street behind a team of good looking dogs.  He’s  born and raised in the Detroit area and now resides “Up North” near Marquette Michigan.  He’s a veterinarian and has served on the trial with Dr. Stu Nelson’s team.  Tim’s been mushing for twenty plus years. He’s done the Le Grande Odyssee, the Wyoming Stage Stop, Iditarod and many other mid to long distance races.   

Tim Hunt

Musher Tim Hunt, DVM

The Odyssee is a race that runs through France and Switzerland.  Mushers run 14 dog teams over the 900 km course that changes in altitude more than 25,000 meters.  The race with 10 stages travels to 25 ski resorts.  Doing some on line research and I see several familiar names,  Jessie Royer, Ken Anderson, Sigrid Ekran and Robert Sorlie.

Tim, with an established veterinary practice and volunteer veterinary trail experience brings a different perspective to mushing.  You’ve got a mushing veterinarian with lots of experience in both aspects – career and avocation.  Amongst his many professional association, he’s a member of the ISDVMA (International Sled Dog Veterinary Medical Association).  Dr. Hunt has been chosen as America’s Favorite Veterinarian in an online competition.  Let your imagination go here, can’t you just see sled dogs passing around an iPad and casting their ballot?

Hunt ran a team of Seavey dogs.  One wouldn’t have to actually “read” that.  A Seavey team is identifiable on a couple of ways – sled construction material and harness spreader.  Seavey sleds are constructed with Easton Ultralight Hockey sticks.  The strength versus weight ration is exceptional.  Seavey harnesses all have a wooden spreader behind positioned behind the tail of the dog to re-distribute the tug force.  That design is used almost exclusively by the Seaveys.

When on the trail as either a vet or a musher, Hunt is focused on the dogs by both vocation and avocation.  Iditarod’s Chief Veterinarian, Stu Nelson said, “Tim’s been a trail vet at least three times.  He comes to the trail with a unique combination of perspectives, vet and musher. He’s a good guy.”  There have been two other vets who’ve mushed dogs in Iditarod.